Endometrial carcinoma in young women

Fertility-Sparing Methods in Adolescents Affected by Endometrial Cancer: A Comprehensive Review

Although in developed countries endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecological malignancy, its occurrence in adolescents is exceedingly rare. The increasing rate of obesity in children and adolescents is held responsible for the increasing prevalence of EC in younger cohorts of patients. The diagnosis of this malignancy can have devastating consequences for future fertility because standard treatment protocols for EC include hysterectomy. Here, we present the first detailed review of the world literature on EC in subjects aged 21 years or younger (n = 19). The mean age at diagnosis was 16.7 ± 0.6 years. One patient (5.3%) had a Type II (high-risk) disease. No communication retrieved from the search reported on patient death; however, two (10.5%) patients were lost to follow-up. There was also a high proportion (five subjects, or 26.3%) of cases with genetic background (Cowden syndrome and Turner syndrome), therefore genetic screening or a direct genetic study should be considered in very young patients with EC. The current fertility-sparing options, limited to Type I (low-risk) disease, are presented and discussed. Such information, obtained from studies on older women, translates well to adolescent girls and very young women. Careful anatomopathological monitoring at follow-up is essential for the safety of a conservative approach. Improved survival in very young EC patients makes the preservation of fertility a central survivorship issue, therefore both patients and caregivers should undergo counseling regarding available options. Moreover, our study suggests that genetic syndromes other than Lynch syndrome may be associated with EC more frequently than previously thought.

A successful live birth through in vitro fertilization program after conservative treatment of FIGO grade I endometrial cancer

Infertile women with chronic anovulation are prone to be exposed to unopposed estrogen stimulation and have the high risk of being suffering from endometrial hyperplasia or even endometrial carcinoma. A few reports have suggested that nulliparous young women (under 40 yr of age) with endometrial carcinoma could be treated conservatively to preserve fertility and succeed the live birth. We report on a 36-yr-old woman who received conservative treatment of endometrial carcinoma (stage I, grade 1) by curettage and progestin. After megestrol medication of total 71,680 mg during 24 weeks, we found the regression of endometrial lesion by curettage and hysteroscopic examination. Then we decided to perform in vitro fertilization program. Two embryos were transferred and heterotypic pregnancy was diagnosed 27 days after embryo transfer. After right salpingectomy, she received routine obstetrical care and delivered by cesarean section at 38 weeks in gestational periods. Two years after delivery, she is healthy without any evidence of recurrent disease. The fertility preserving treatment is an option in endometrial cancer patients if carefully selected, and assisted reproductive technologies would be helpful.

Fertility-sparing options for patients with gynecologic malignancies

Gynecologic malignancies are most often diagnosed in postmenopausal women, but these malignancies also arise in premenopausal women, in whom issues of fertility can be a major concern. An increasing number of women are delaying childbearing. This has led to a significant increase in the number of women diagnosed with a gynecologic malignancy before desired completion of childbearing. Many of the standard treatments for these malignancies result in permanent sterility; however, there are now options for select young women who desire to preserve fertility. Patients should be told that data on fertility-sparing procedures are limited and that many of these options are of an experimental, nonstandard nature. The care of these patients is challenging and complex and requires a multidisciplinary approach, which should include gynecologic oncologists, reproductive endocrinologists, and perinatologists.

Clinicopathologic study of uterine endometrial carcinoma in young women aged 40 years and younger

To clarify what constitutes the adequate management of uterine endometrial carcinoma in young women, we reviewed clinicopathologically 31 patients aged 40 years and younger between January 1991 and June 2004. As a primary treatment, 12 cases chose hormonal treatment with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA; 600 mg/day) due to no findings of myometrial invasion and diagnosis of a grade 1, well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. In remaining 19 cases, surgery was performed. All the 19 patients who received surgery as a primary treatment are alive, with no evidence of a recurrence of the disease. In the 12 patients who received hormonal treatment, 8 patients eventually received a hysterectomy because of recurrence or no response to MPA. Of these eight patients, myometrial invasion was recognized in three patients. One of the eight patients died of the metastasized disease to the liver and brain after hysterectomy. After hormonal treatment, 4 of the 12 patients were exempted from surgery and showed no evidence of recurrence. Two patients had viable children. Progesterone receptor was negative in one case that died. Careful consideration should be given to hormonal treatment with MPA for the conservative management of endometrial carcinoma in young women. Moreover, MPA is not always a consistent management for every patient.

Girls with Turner's syndrome with spontaneous menarche have an increased risk of endometrial carcinoma: a case report and review from the literature

BACKGROUND

Patients with Turner's syndrome receiving unopposed estrogens for the induction of feminization have an increased risk of endometrial carcinoma. Only seven patients who were not treated with estrogen replacement therapy have been reported to have developed endometrial carcinoma at different age levels.

CASE

A young girl with Turner's syndrome phenotype, spontaneous puberty, and karyotype 45,X0/47,XXX from peripheral blood, after irregular menstrual cycles of 9 years, at the age of 21, was diagnosed with a non-invasive well-differentiated endometrial carcinoma confined to a hyperplastic endometrial polyp. Analysis of the ovarian tissue by FISH confirmed mosaicism: 45,X0/46,XX/47,XXX.

CONCLUSION(S)

The endogenous estrogen secretion from the ovaries might have caused malignancy in this case. Patients with Turner's syndrome with spontaneous menarche might carry a higher risk of endometrial carcinoma.

The role of MRI in the conservative management of endometrial cancer

BACKGROUND

Young patients with endometrial cancer who desire to preserve their fertility often decline hysterectomy in favor of conservative progestin therapy. Proper candidates should have disease confined to the uterus and a well-differentiated tumor. One of the evolving techniques to evaluate the extent of the disease and myometrial or cervical invasion is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

CASE

A young patient with early-stage endometrial cancer initially declined surgery and was treated with megestrol. MRI suggested myoinvasion, and the patient consented to surgical staging. The final pathology revealed no residual carcinoma.

CONCLUSIONS

The accuracy of MRI in detecting myoinvasion is limited, and as such results should be interpreted with caution when this information is used in counseling a young patient regarding surgical staging for endometrial cancer.

Prognostic factors in young women with endometrial carcinoma: a report of 20 cases and review of literature

We retrospectively reviewed the pathologic features of patients with endometrial carcinoma (EC) treated in our facility between 1989 and 1998. First, we identified the clincopathologic features of young women with EC and compared them with similar patients from the literature. Second, 148 EC patients were divided into two groups: group A (age</=45 years, n = 20) and B (age>45, n = 128). The mean follow-up periods were 65 months and 50 months in groups A and B, respectively. Group A patients had better disease-free survival (Kaplan-Meier method, P = 0.0283) compared to group B patients. The independent variables related to disease-free survival (Cox regression analysis) were age (P = 0.0001), stage (P = 0.0183), histology (P = 0.0011), and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.0007). The distribution of stage was significantly different between the two groups (Chi-square test, P = 0.0089). More group A patients (18 of 20; 90%) had early stage disease. There were no significant differences (Fisher's exact test) between the two groups in histology, grade, cervical involvement, vascular invasion, tumor size, ovarian malignancy, and lymph node metastasis. However, group A patients had a significant higher incidence of disease confined to the inner half of the myometrium than group B patients (P = 0.0004). We statistically confirmed that young women with EC had better outcome due to a significantly higher proportion of early stage disease and less myometrial invasion than older patients.

Progestin alone as primary treatment of endometrial carcinoma in premenopausal women. Report of seven cases and review of the literature

BACKGROUND

The standard treatment for endometrial carcinoma is staging laparotomy with total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. In an attempt to preserve childbearing potential, selected patients with endometrial carcinoma were treated with progestin alone as primary therapy.

METHODS

Patients were identified through searches of tumor registries and solicitation of consulting gynecologic oncologists at the affiliated institutions of the University of California-Los Angeles Center for the Health Sciences. Only those patients with a diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma treated with progestin alone as primary therapy were included in the study. Independent pathologic review was performed by a recognized expert gynecologic pathologist to exclude cases of endometrial hyperplasia. A MEDLINE search was conducted to identify reports of similarly treated patients.

RESULTS

Seven patients were treated with progestin alone for endometrial carcinoma at the study institution. Fourteen additional patients were identified through the literature search. Combining the data for all patients, 13 of 21 patients (62%) had an initial response to progestins. Three initial responders later developed recurrent disease, one of whom was found to have extrauterine disease at laparotomy. Eight of 21 patients (38%) did not respond to progestins and underwent more definitive treatment. None of these patients later developed recurrent disease. Six viable infants were delivered of three patients after therapy. Nineteen of 21 patients were alive without evidence of disease at last follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study show that premenopausal women with endometrial carcinoma may be treated successfully with progestin therapy alone as primary therapy to preserve childbearing potential.

Endometrial carcinoma in a young woman

We present an unusual case of endometrial carcinoma which developed in a 22-year-old woman shortly after pregnancy.